Those stubborn hairs

Right, I'm halfway through cleaning the inside of my car, which the astute of you know I haven't done in two years. The reason why I've stopped for the time being is two-fold.

First, I just blew a fuse. There I am, sucking away at the carpet and the suction dies. So this is me allowing time for the vacuum cleaner to cool down before trying again (or something, I do know that it won't work, and I'll just blow it again, but it's a mental thing).

Next, this vacuum cleaner sucks (not literally), and I'm waiting for approval from Mum for her to let me use the good one. The new one has all sorts of attachments, and is probably built to not blow fuses.

So while I wait for my reply I'm going to add this picture of everything I pulled out of my car:



Yup, I have hockey sticks, towels, pieces of seamboard with orders for Hungry Jacks written on them, four half-full water bottles, a blue rubber duck, assorted hairpins, six rolls of tape, an empty box of body pens, my jacket and a coathanger (this isn't even the stuff in the glovebox). Most of it has a story, feel free to ask!

Some of it will be placed back inside, most will go back in the car (like the tape).

Isn't this what Sundays are for?

Hawaii, Uni, and the races...

What could have been three separate posts I've merged into one. Aren't I smart?

Let's start with Hawaii.

Recently went on a trip to Hawaii. I had a great time, lots and lots of fun. I'd love to go back one day. Yes, I went surfing; yes, I went shopping; yes, I did the beach thing; yes, I stayed in the penthouse suite of the hotel; yup, I climbed Diamond Head... It was a very busy week away, and I did a lot of things and come back with my own set of scars, mementos, presents and tattoos...

I experienced food like I've never witnessed before. Some things Australia is clearly better at. First is conservation of energy. Most of you will have already heard me rant about the continual and massive waste of electricity, water and petrol over there, so I won't repeat it. Next would be food, while their portions were very decent sizes (ie. Too much) and it tasted nice; by the end of the week I ended up wanting something healthy... Like a salad... Yes, America is the only thing in the world that will get me to eat my vegetables... (As a side note, can anyone say free refills?). Finally, I think Australian's would have to do far better with driving and road rules too. I was happy to be back on the left side of the road when I got home. None of this "the light is red but we can still turn here" shit. If the light is red, then you stop. I like our method...

But the place is just so different that it's something you have to go back to. We explored about 85% of the beaches of O'ahu, the third largest island of Hawaii, and I still want to go back for more. Every day was a different beach. Whether it was surfing at Waikiki, swimming at Kailua, skin diving at Sunset Beach, or face planting while body surfing further along Kailua Beach (It was ranked #1 US Beach in 1998). The beaches were a whole different experience too. I think the main things that made them so amazing were the views you enjoyed while swimming, and the fact the weather was always perfect.

Yup, I'm browner too for those that did notice.

The last week of uni was recently, and it's now exam time. I had one yesterday, one tomorrow, and another Friday. Then my last one is next week. I could do very well on these exams, if I was willing to put in the effort. Mostly I know that I've been doing well, and am not putting in as much effort as I probably should. The weather is too nice to be studying. I think my best result will be from Engineering Design, even though I attended a grand total of three lectures, because I find the subject quite cruisey. Some might struggle with this one, and I can see why if it's your first time around logic gates, but logic happens to be what I'm good at. Though last semester the subject I felt I was going to do the best in was the one I did the worst, so I'm not going to hold my breath for fantastic results.

Finally, the Spring Cup Carnival. I've been working at a bunch of the races so far (Geelong Cup, Cox Plate) and will be working at quite a few more I hope (Melbourne Cup, Oaks Day) so make some money. I always enjoy watching people progress from sober to blind drunk over a period of time, and there's no better time to do that than when working at the Spring Carnival. Already had people offer me $20 for my nametag (free money, I have several nametags) and I made something like $14 worth of tips, all in 10c pieces at the Cox Plate. Straight to my car for them, they aren't staying in my pocket. Working Melbourne Cup should be good, because it seems they've finally figured out that I'd prefer to be bartending than holding a platter of food in my arms all day (Marble platters are heavy, and you get dead arms by the end of the day). Instead, I come home with hands that get pretty badly cut up from bottle tops and cans. Sigh... Long live the invention of the teaspoon and the bottle opener (though some fucker nicked mine the other day).

Overall, I come home with more money than most people went to the races with, so I'm one of the few that get away on a profit. If you're going to bet, chances are you'll lose. That's why TAB and bookies exist, they actually make money. The math says you will lose more than you'll win. Same goes for casinos. Don't bother unless you're really good (or can card count).

Until after exams,

James!

Checkmarks

So I have this little *cough cough* to-do list at the moment that I'm frantically trying to do before I leave. So I thought I might get a bit of help from you guys and gals...

Where am I leaving? Haven't I told you? I know some of you only found out last week, even though I had been making a couple of massive hints I was going somewhere. Some of you have known for quite a while, a couple of months...

Either way; I'm going to Hawaii...!

Yes, I'll be soaking up the sun while the weather here fulfils its usual Melbournistic style of 18°C and raining, just like it's doing right now as I look out the window. I hope it stays that way while I'm gone...

Of course, this means taking a week off uni... Most of you have holidays at this point, when my "holiday" was a couple of weeks ago (yeah... mid-semester break is nothing really, you end up at uni everyday anyway...). As a result I've been flat out busy making sure I don't fall behind in my classes. At uni they have two teaching speeds, unbearably fast and unbearably slow. It would not be difficult to disappear for a week and come back to discover you missed all the chapters of stuff that's on the exam, and ended up in a lecture on Quantum Computing, which without the week of stuff you missed, is a long way away from understandable. On the other end of the scale, I'm half expecting to come back and find that some of my lecturers are still talking about the same thing they were talking about three weeks ago, hoping that the portion of the class that hasn't attended for the past three week will attend to listen. For those lecturers, the reason why they are not there is because they got bored of you tapping the microphone, apologising, or just repeating the same things, over and over...

Hey, it can't be worse than being taught to add to quantities though, can it? (What's 1000 grams plus 250 grams? Seriously...).

I've picked out my "favourites" for this semester now. Engineering Design 1; which is where I hold the record for latest attendance to a lecture (I walked in, to hear him tell us the lecture is over, so I was there about 20 seconds). It's also the class where I get to play with logic circuits and build stuff. Last weekend I thought I'd be clever and design the "perfect" system for our project we're working on, but then got told I couldn't build it because it's a later assessment, and they'd have nothing to mark me on now... (*cough* I wouldn't mind some harder work?).

And my other favourite is just the one I've dubbed "C++" (as opposed to "MATLAB" for those that care). I like the change in language...

And if you've made it this far, you've witnessed me checking off "Blog" on my to-do list...

I said you could help me with this list, and you still can:

You all know how you can plug your new "state of the art, high definition" TV into your home network and stream movies from your laptop or what not? Well; the first person to find out the maximum network speed of high definition televisions or receivers gets a metaphorical silver foil wrapped choc chip cookie... Not a single employee at any appliance store has any clue... The answer is either "Fast Ethernet" or "Gigabit Ethernet" and it's starting to shit me...

Check...

Tid-bits

Right, I have three random, or not so random, things to put here:

First;

An Appeals court has ordered a retrial for a group of artists who hacked into a national television weather broadcast to show a fake nuclear explosion in the Czech mountains.

Members of the Prage-based Ztohoven art group admitted tempering with equipment at the public broadcaster Czech Television so viewers watching a live panoramic shot of the Krkonose, or Giant Mountains, in June last year saw a flash of bright light and a fiery mushroom cloud.

Seven artists were acquitted of spreading false information in March, but the state prosecutor appealed the verdict.

That really gets nothing but a massive awesome from me. Could you imagine replacing the Channel Seven's picture of the sun for a mushroom cloud on the forecast map? Oh yeah, I think I've found a goal in life...

Second, my horoscope for the day, courtesy of the mX;

Despite arguing your case well, someone else is determined to have the last word.

Once you have spoken, allow others to absorb the information over a period of time.

Battles must be chosen carefully tomorrow.

Heh... I purposely withhold any comment on that...

Finally; I did this all while chroming. Apparently people like it...

Down Below

I'd like to be surfing the net right now as I wait for this lecture, but this has got to be the one uni room that doesn't have wireless coverage. Being deep underground, and being able to feel the City Loop train rush underneath the floor, I can't say I'm surprised I don't have any mobile reception either.

Every time I want to reply to a message that only just gets through, a have to wait till I have reception, then press send. Or I have to get up, go up the stairs, send, and then come back to class.

The alternative is sending an email to the IT guys here, asking for them to install wireless for this underground location. It'd be nice, but I don't really see it happening straight away. Though that would mean I could start downloads while I code next week's test and take notes.

I'm really enjoying my classes this semester. I really can't remember what any of them are called, but I know which ones are which. The one I'm in now, Engineering Methods, is probably my least favourite, probably because the lectures feel like a waste of time. But in the labs for this class, I'm a week ahead due to my ability to work faster and better alone. Code, code, code...

Just had the other programming test today (as in the other class, we code C++ in it, and MATLAB in the one I'm in now). Walked in late, so was worried I was a touch behind, but when I'd finished the bulk of the code in fifteen minutes, and the guy next to me was sweating it out, I was feeling more confident. Oh and congratulations to that guy too by the way. After he finished cheating from a piece of paper he brought in, he left early, only to come back in ten, saying he'd forgotten to remove the 'system("Pause")' lines. In other words, he got a score of zero because the program won't run correctly. Serves him right.

Circuit theory and Engineering design are basically the same class, and lectures in one are very similar to the lectures in the other. Very handy, cause learning in one means you're learning in the other. The labs are distinctly different though. In one, we're measuring resistor values using a digital multimeter; and in the other we're designing traffic light control systems using flip-flops and logic gates. But between these two classes, I can say I've learnt something about circuit analysis, even though I pretend I haven't. Mesh circuit analysis, circuit node analysis, grid analysis, and some sort of creepy replacement thingo... Basically, it's all just common sense and being sure you conform to KCL and KVL (yeah, I think I've probably lost you all now) rules. Oh, and Ohms law... (Well duh...).

Lecture's started now, and it's about the Trapezoidal rule. Yay for already knowing how to do it! Yay for CAS! Tune-out time continues...

I'm thinking about getting a stereo for my room; something snazzy. I don't care if it doesn't have all the top-of-the-range features like a built in DVD player (like some of the players I've seen). I want one that looks good; with blue lights... Probably should work more to be able to afford it.

Ah, speaking of work! Hopefully I'll be working for the footy finals season. If I'm working all the days I've told work I can work; then I'll be going to the footy more times this September than I've been my entire life. Except I'm not working the Grand Final; I'll be in Hawaii. Yes, that's right, it's the second year in a row I won't actually be available to watch the Grand Final on TV. Good! It's not like I'm missing anything but shitty actors prance about in short shorts. If I want to see that, I'll go and live in Sydney...

Night children, she's actually talking about something I don't know now, so I'm going to tune back in to the lecture... Take care, don't do anything stupid... Like play football...

A Little Quacker For You

Whole bunch of you have heard this one already from me; here I am repeating it...

I was walking down the street the other day, and I nearly tripped over this duck.

“G’day duck” I said, “What’s your name?”

“Oh my name’s Tom” said the duck.

“Good to meet you Tom. Say, I've never really talked to a duck before; what does a duck like you get up to all day?”

“Oh, the usual... In and out of puddles...”

“Righto, catch you later Tom” and we parted our ways.

About a block later, I bumped into another duck.
“Oh, sorry about that mate; didn’t mean to trip you over there.” I said as I helped him up, “What’s your name?”

“I'm Dick,” replied the duck.

“I ran into a duck a couple of minutes ago, and he told me about his day and all that... I'm curious, what do you do all day?”

“I just hop in and out of puddles really.”

“Fair enough, see you round Dick” I commented as he headed off.

Just when I thought I'd seen enough ducks for the day, sure enough, there was another, standing on the corner, waiting to cross the road. Ambling up to him, I asked “So, I guess your name is Harry.”

“Nah, mate... I'm Puddles...”

A word of thanks

I probably should have updated this a week or so ago, but I have been that busy. Mostly trying to help people actually, stuff I don't actually have to do, but am because it makes me feel like a better person (and it delays before I actually have to write something.).

What amazes me though are the so very few people that say "thanks" and actually mean it. Sure, we all say it. I bring someone something at work and I have the polite "Thanks, James" but has this person actually realised the time and effort I went to do find the box?

Yesterday, however, I was surprised by the first person who said "thank you" and actually sounded like they cared for the effort I'd gone to to help them. I was a wet, cold, Melbourne evening, and I was on my way home from work. It was the second time in two days I'd been caught in the rain; this time however, was neither fun nor enjoyable. As I squelched my way of the tram with other travellers, a man down the street caught my eye. He was blind, and had clearly lost his way. Not one person stopped as they trundled past him, so I did.

As a result, it took me an extra forty minutes to get home. I become even wetter, and I knew that I now had no chance of not getting sick (at the moment I'm suffering with a sore throat). And when we arrived at his destination, I received the first thanks in weeks that sounded honest. He shook my hands, told me he could never thank me enough, and that he would repay the favour someday, if he ever has the chance. It wasn't what he said, but the way he said it.

And as a result I'd like to expand my list of words that have lost all meaning due to abuse because of today's society: "Love," "Sorry," and now "Thank you." I try always to only ever use these words when I honestly mean them, and I hope you'll do likewise.

There have been plenty of times that I can think of when "Sorry" might have fixed it, or "Love" might have had a laugh, or "Thanks" would have been custom; but I have refrained from saying it, cause it wasn't what I truly meant.

So what I have I done since my last update?

Well, quite obviously, I had exams. Lots of fun there... Not...

Actually, lunch before exams was kinda awesome, much better than a bread roll, though I don't think eating at a fancy restaurant on Southbank is the best way to revise for Enterprise Engineering... I packed in work wherever possible between exams and I'm making some money now. Well, until uni goes back at least. Money's kinda very handy at the moment, especially with the cost of petrol and our trip away to Jervis Bay.

Trip away was much needed, and I really am glad we went. Had a couple of walks along the beach, and got to see someone special graduate from the Navy. Dyed Al's hair... again... Lounged on the couch, the bed, the floor. Watched Al speed at 130km/h, and listened to Ken get angry at him. Photo's are on Facebook if you'd like to see them. Most are of Izzy marching, which was great to watch, but it does all start to look the same after a few minutes. :P

The Sunset Parade wasn't as loud as I was expecting. Yes, I know that it was loud, and I know that we were told it was going to be extremely loud, but I did actually expect more noise. So I didn't jump out of my skin, like some people did. But watching the whole thing is definitely something I'd watch again (which is why we watched it twice).

And the Passing Out Parade lived up to expectations of people passing out. I think it was five in total. Three honourable mentions here:

1. To the person behind the crunching noise at they hit the ground. It carried quite a distance, and although there was no blood, it was great to hear.
   
2. To the person who passed out, but remained standing. Never seen it before, and probably never will, but serious points for that.
   
3. To Izzy, for swaying, turning pale, and wanting to vomit. You looked like you were next to hit the deck the whole parade, but you stuck through.
   

Overall, I knew where I should have parked my car!

The Ball was... Actually... I don't think there's a word for it, and because I'm in the habit of making words at the moment, I think that the Ball was benourable. Which is sort of like endurable, but only if you knew a portion of the people there. I just spent my time following the one person who might know people, and there was people following me accordingly. We all left early, only because the Ball was starting to get a touch benourable, and we'd be having much more fun at home with movies, coke and vodka.

And then since getting back, I've been back working again, and having quite a few late nights. I'm exhausted, why do you people keep me up so late? (Yes, I want to be asleep at 3.30am). So I'm working on more money before uni goes back, I need to save for a trip away to Hawaii in September. And a new desktop. And just save in general. You can never have too much money saved.

And I got my results today. I'm actually quite impressed. My average would be a distinction, if you balance the high distinction and the credit out. I'm a touch disappointed in my score in Math, but to be fair I don't show any working, so maybe it was deserved. Biggest surprise was Enterprise Engineering, which I'm beginning to think that if I'd actually handed in one preliminary assignment (no, I didn't hand in a single one, they counted for a total of 15%) then my score would have been in the late 90's. So the one class I expected to fail I got a High Distinction in, and the one class I expected to do really well in, I didn't do as well as I thought.

And as much as I hate writing, I'll try to update the blog soon, but I need something to write about first...

Take care, talk soon.